Wondrous
by BrokePerception
Summary: Set after 3.15 Left Behind and 3.18 D.O.C. The Islands hold a lot of power, especially fertility wise. Kate/Juliet interaction, Jacket
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

There were no words to describe how much she hated Ben, she thought as she felt the pain in her shoulder slowly ebb away, to a throb. She knew she would feel tender for a few days, as it had the other three times that her arm had dislocated ── she wished she wasn't as frail. Juliet Burke hated Ben for how easily he could somehow force everyone to do what he wanted without seemingly any effort at all. Juliet hated the way he looked at them with those deep blue eyes and that stone face whenever he 'asked', the way his deep eyes penetrated you thoroughly and slowly, as if reminding you of all the power that he had on the islands and in the world they were separated from... even though his mouth didn't mention. She hated Benjamin Linus for how easily he could decide about life or death and for how little the latter really did to him. It was clear that he used people, but, for one's own good, it was best one didn't argue much with him. Juliet suspected that many of the recruited suffered from Stockholm's Syndrome, though.

Of course, she knew from experience that one's actions didn't necessarily speak for what one felt. She knew that it was perfectly possible to do what you had been told to do and still feel so much chaos inside, wanting nothing but to go back to the world you had abandoned and to leave Ben and the others and everything that was related to the islands. She felt like she would have at least recognized _something_ with the others if they felt the same way, though ── not happy or accustomed at all to their 'home'. She would never ever see it as such, though. She didn't want to.

Yet there she was with the one person from the Oceanic 815 plane that she hated the most ── because he had told her to: Kate Austen. How easily the brunette had managed to dislocate her arm was but a subtle reminder of how very unlike each other they were, how frail she was as opposed to Kate, with her versatile strength... and how Kate was all that she wasn't and wouldn't ever be. While her past was not one to envy, her strength and independence were. Juliet had never truly known independence, and least of all on the islands, where Ben decided absolutely everything, however unspoken.

She became acutely aware of how Kate's heart beat raged against her cheek as Kate held her very awkwardly. She knew that the fugitive hated her at least as much as she hated her in return, if only for the fact that she was a part of a community she had never even asked to be a part of. Nonetheless, she felt that the rhythmic, however increased, thrumming against the shell of her ear soothed her somehow.

She briefly wondered why the other woman's heart rate was increased, but she answered her own thought nearly immediately after it struck her. _Something_ had just tried to kill them, and they had only just managed to escape. That would be the cocktail that got most people's hearts to beat faster than normal. She wasn't a part of that particular category, though. While her heart beat was faster, too, just after Kate had forced her arm back in the socket and pain had rushed through her body, it hadn't increased like Kate's had upon the sound of what she herself knew to be death, too ── it only had from exertion of running into the bushes.

Juliet Burke was afraid of a lot of things, but death? It was not one of them. After three years on the hidden-away isle that she had always been told she would be able to leave after six months, many promises... she didn't have hope for being able to leave anymore, and for resuming what was her actual life. Whatever this was right now wasn't it. She was one of Ben's puppets, that was all.

The life she lead with the community was not worth it to her, nor was the 'great work' she was supposed to do on the islands. After all, the task that Ben had set for her had long proven to be impossible. Rachel and her nephew were worth fighting for, but it was so hard to hold onto that shred of hope when she hadn't even seen her beloved sister for so long and had never even been able to just hold little Julian. Juliet suspected they believed that she was gone and had been for a long time.

Kate hated Juliet's serenity most: mindlessly following Ben's and others' orders without questions. However, there was also that _something_ about Juliet Burke she had never been able to see through ── that _something_ that had begun to settle in her mind when she saw the blonde shoot one of their own to help Kate and Sawyer escape with Karl. It wasn't her top priority to know, of course ── for how could it when you had to run for your life? ── but occasionally, it crossed Kate's thoughts again and she wondered what the hell the truth about Juliet was. Juliet's actions didn't all fall in place.

As she felt the blonde's wet, curly strands gently tickle her collar bone, though, it struck her that right then the serenity that the woman had always had was not necessarily unnerving at that moment, but oddly comforting. This was a thought she tried to push past, though. She couldn't rely on Juliet after all that had happened after their captivity, and she refused to let herself be comforted by her, no matter how much she might need it. She pulled her arms back from the blonde and pushed at her, while moving backwards and away from her, just as Juliet grasped onto the expanse of her soaking wet top and held on with an unknown strength.

That suppressed part of Kate that was comforted by the blonde was stronger than the part of her that felt like she couldn't accept that strange kind of comfort, though. The brunette lowered herself on the wet leaves as Juliet still held onto her. They could rest here for a little while, for now, she thought. She just had to keep both of her eyes open, so that if danger threatened, they could get away from there as soon as possible. As she blinked and then opened her eyes wide, danger was the last she saw, though. Although... It depended on how you looked at it. If said danger came in the shape of a small and slender woman whose mysteries couldn't be resolved, with curly blonde hair and blue eyes, danger was really incredibly close.

Juliet herself seemed to be aware of their proximity as well. "I... I appreciate your assistance," she whispered as she tried to push herself up with one hand beside Kate's left side, but failed. They both felt the air surrounding them change into an atmosphere that neither of them was sure that they were very comfortable with. They hated each other a lot, indeed, for who they were and they themselves were not compared to the other, but as well as love and lust, hate was a strong feeling on top of a mixture of already very strong feelings right then. Sound and color slowly faded away with all hate as lips touched each other, chapped and dry but somehow familiar and exactly what they needed.

Despite the fact that consideration and thought described Kate and Juliet, both of their minds were relatively free as they kissed and let their fingertips run over each other, the worries and suspicion in the backs of their minds as they shed their clothes and touched skin, both wet and dirty... but it didn't matter. Unsurprisingly, Kate took charge of all that happened next, sitting astride Juliet's hips, moving against her. It was about a need and an intimate one at well, but it was not at all caused by attraction. Juliet, gasping and panting, let it all wash over her. After all, she was good at being in line. The encounter was rather hard and fast, and needy, however unspoken... because neither Kate nor Juliet would speak of it again, they knew then already.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

WEEKS LATER

Juliet Burke held onto the branch of a tall tree that hung over, so tightly that her knuckles had turned white as she emptied her stomach. She hadn't had a chance to eat yet that morning. She felt the strong acid burn in her throat, like one does when one throws up on an empty stomach ── which only made the blonde gag more.

When she had blinked her blue eyes open to a warm orange and pink-colored horizon that indicated that the sun was only barely up, she had nearly immediately felt a lurch in her stomach... and the need to vomit has been impossible to ignore at once. She had pushed her blanket aside and ran towards the jungle, forcing herself not to give in to the faintness she felt overtaking her at her sudden activity, before she had even had an actual chance to eat or properly wake, for that matter. When she had rushed past Jack's tent, beside hers, she had noticed the way that Jack rose up on one elbow and had looked after her rather confused.

When she heard the leaves rustle close to her and small branches crack underneath heavy footfalls, she knew it was him before he opened his mouth even. As much as it comforted her to know that she could rely on him when she felt like she needed someone ── although most of his people still weren't fond of her ── she felt the strange need to be alone, and all she wanted, was for him to go away.

"Juliet, are you all right?"

The blonde didn't reply. She carefully debated her answer, then confirmed, at least to herself, that she didn't feel the need to throw up as much anymore, and she wiped her mouth, on the back of her left hand, as she stood and turned back towards Jack. She thought it was absurd that he seemed so awake this early already, when they usually didn't get up until several hours later.

"I'm fine..." she murmured, voice hoarse from her nausea spell.

Jack frowned in response to her, as he saw how incredibly pale she looked and how sweat had formed on her forehead, as if she had had to run several miles. She looked very ill, he noted, and he was rather worried, despite the fact she claimed that she was just fine. He took one step closer; he was not at all surprised that she refused his offered help and, instead, eyed him in a way that stated that she was not as frail as she seemed. He made to pull his hands back, albeit ready to catch her if needed, when she decided she wanted to 'prove' herself and let go of the low branch that she had held onto. She, however, failed miserably, as the lack of the support from the branch caused Juliet to collapse... caught by Jack just in time, before she fell to her knees there.

He did not say 'I told you so'. That would have been rather cruel, given the way she must feel. However, as he realized she was way too weak to move on her own, even with Jack's support, and he had to lift her up in his arms and carry her, he thought it. He didn't bother him, though. He was just glad that he was there.

"Jack..." Juliet breathed. She wanted to fight back and tell him she was perfectly fine and that she could walk on her own, but she knew she wasn't, as hard as it was to admit to herself. Juliet Burke gave in to her fate and let her head rest against Jack's strong collarbone, her nails digging into his broad shoulders, as he carried her slowly back to her tent and laid her down as carefully as possible, as if she was a glass figurine.

The surgeon felt the blonde's forehead with the backs of his soft fingers and confirmed that she had a slight fever. Jack furrowed his brow as he thought of a diagnosis and reminded himself of the fact that she had not been fond of any food in the past days ── she had not eaten very much at all. He wondered if she was, maybe, getting the flu or such, and then he wondered if the flu was an option on the island to begin with. He understood that she was too weak to answer any questions. So, instead, he laid down beside her on the improved mattress and pulled her frail body in his very strong arms. He felt an instinct to be as close to her as possible in that moment.

Despite the fact that he was very alert, Jack's eyes closed after several long seconds of silence, and he let sleep gently take him. He would be right there if she needed him. Despite the fact that Juliet felt ill and still rather weak, she was more alert than one would guess, especially in her mind. In her mind, she had contributed the nausea spell to the stress of the past few weeks, with Ben being incredibly demanding, and with the captivity of Jack and his friends. When she had come to this part of the island, the blonde had been met with a skepticism that she had never felt that strongly in her entire life, and people still avoided her when they could.

Jack was the only one whom she felt she could be honest with, and she had told him that Ben had told her to go back with them, and that he wanted Sun and why. Together with him, she had thought of any arguments that would buy them a bit more time, and Ben had listened, miraculously, and had agreed that maybe they should wait to take Sun until she was further in her pregnancy. After all, she had gathered all information she felt she could get from the women early on in their pregnancies. It was closer to the end that she lacked the information she needed to make a change, she had said, and Ben had taken that bait.

She had hoped so much to be able to escape, with Jack and the others... but Charlie's and Desmond's efforts had proven to be in vain. Ben had ensured that when the Looking Glass failed, another system would jam all communication that could connect the island with the rest of the world. She had been so close to seeing Rachel again, and to meeting little Julian...

She felt the missing pull at her heart strings, and she realized she was glad that she had not sent Jack away. He was the only one from the group of survivors on this part of the island who could see past her actions, and who bothered to consider the how and why ── who gave Juliet a chance to be trusted. She knew her honesty with him had probably a lot to do with it, but it meant a great deal, and she didn't take the way he treated her for granted.

When they first met, Juliet Burke had felt a strange sort of connection with Jack ── one she still felt. Both of them had been thrust in a spot they hadn't chosen for, where they had to choose for this or that every day, to listen to the voice of what she knew to be reason, to save lives, or to ignore it... which would be more than acceptable after all that they had been forced to endure now.

She felt like she nor he truly fit in with the rest of their people. It was hard to put in words. She felt like they didn't need to speak to know they understood the other. They did not need to speak of the guilt and the regret they felt, the doubts and the decisions, their consciousness that gnawed at them every day and the tiny part of selfishness deep inside that called for a damn break, after all the giving that they had done.

Just being with him was really a comfort she couldn't put in words but felt very clearly. With him, she felt at ease, and she had since the beginning. He was a beacon to her in that moment, and he had been every moment since they first met.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Juliet Burke hadn't loved Goodwin. Sure, she had cared a great deal for him ── after all, he had shown her a kindness that others hadn't on the islands. She suspected he had cared a great deal for her in return. It hadn't been love, though. When she was with Goodwin, she had felt less like a 'captive', and she had enjoyed ── and needed ── that. Goodwin and she had, repeatedly, been intimate, but not all the way. She had felt too conscientious to do so with a married man.

She had felt the guilt gnaw already as soon as she realized how much, exactly, she enjoyed the 'alone time' with a man who was not hers, and it had only gotten worse. This guilt, Juliet Burke had managed not to succumb to. The guilt she would have felt had they had any intercourse, she wouldn't have managed to push to the very back of her mind like this.

It would have made their 'affaire' into one that it was not, too. It was mostly the emotional connection with him she craved, over more physical ones. That's what she had tried to tell Harper when Goodwin's wife confronted her with the 'affaire', but she hadn't really wanted to listen, and truthfully, Juliet hadn't blamed her. She was certain that had she been the cheated-upon wife, she wouldn't have wanted to hear it ── not one word.

The way she felt about Jack wasn't the same. With him, she felt the emotional connection stronger and had since the beginning. With him, she felt things she hadn't felt with Goodwin ── or anyone for that matter. With him, she felt a kind of peace that she couldn't put in words. An alikeness. A harmony. She knew that this, her feelings, put Jack in danger, whether he shared them or not, and that had her worried.

When she had at last fallen back asleep in Jack's arms, she had had such a restful little doze she didn't even remember a better night's rest on the islands. She had felt a small shred of guilt for it, though, when the sun began to rise and everyone slowly began to get up and she saw the way that Jack stretched his arm, for it made it rather clear that the way she had let her head rest on it had numbed it. Most of all, she had felt worried, for how comfortable she felt when with Jack, and thus, how very easily Ben must be able to notice how much he meant to her, and how easily he would be able to hurt her through him.

Juliet Burke was caught in this train of thought entirely, when she detected a very strong smell, then saw Jack come to her, with two battered mugs of sorts in hand. When he came closer, she noticed that a small smile was on his face, but she detected a few signs of concern as well: the way his jaw was set, the way his smile wasn't as sincere... When Jack was but a few feet from her and the smell of the coffee penetrated her nostrils, she couldn't help but veer up and make for the jungle once more ── like earlier. The last she saw was the way his face clearly changed to great worry as she ran off to puke.

It wasn't until she was hunched over by a pair of trees where she had emptied her stomach earlier, doing her very best to will the smell of coffee from her nostrils, that all of the pieces fell together. It was only when the smell of coffee alone caused that bad a nausea spell that she connected the sickness with her very late period. She had never been all too regular while on the islands ── truth told, since everyone's fertility increased so much there, it could have been seen as strange, but she hadn't thought too much on it, and she had put it down to too much estrogen maybe, that that was why, sometimes, she got two periods a month and other months none.

She did her very best to hyperventilate. She couldn't be with child. She just couldn't be.

Juliet Burke straightened herself up a bit and looked over her shoulder. She saw the look of worry on Jack's face as he stood there with two mugs of coffee in his hand, through the green leaves that separated the beach from the jungle, separated them. She guessed he had thought Juliet would be back soon and that was the only reason why he hadn't come after her. She wouldn't be back soon, though. She rose and pushed off of her feet then and began to run in the direction of the medical post that was hidden beneath green foliage, a few miles to the north. She had to know.

With this in her mind only, Juliet Burke followed her way to the post nearly blindly. All was a blur, until she saw the truth in her suspicions on screen and saw the small movements of what was an apparently very healthy, six-week-old fetus. She heard, and felt, her heart beat pulse incessantly, on the left side on her head, otherwise catatonic, as she held the monitor against her lower abdomen. It couldn't be true. She had not been with anyone in the time frame that the small screen indicated.

She was pulled from her thoughts by Sawyer's voice, which resounded in the jungle, as loud as ever. She couldn't hear his exact words, but she recognized the way he barked very well. Quickly, she set the machine aside and grabbed a thick paper towel from the box beside her to wipe the gel from her abdomen, before she threw it blindly in the dustbin. She didn't wait to see if it landed in the bin or not before she sat up and pulled her top down, then slid off of the dusty table and made for the exit.

She slipped from the post, unseen, and wandered a few feet towards the beach. She had reached a spot where the ever-green foliage overhead was much less dense, where the sunlight streamed through the several layers of green significantly more, when she heard Sawyer's voice again, much closer and already clearer ── finally understandable.

"Freckles, you have to let the doc check you over, because for someone who is oh so sure she isn't knocked up, you look far too peaky and have vomited far too much!"

"Go away, James!"

As she heard the steps of a somewhat tall male come rapidly closer, Juliet crouched by a big tree to hide, so that she could hear the rest of the conversation. The blonde's heart raced as she counted and confirmed that it had been about six weeks since Ben and the others had left her, and since Kate and she had run from the black smoke, since Kate had popped her arm back, in the socket, and since... She swallowed her gasp and covered her open mouth with one hand. So, she wasn't the only one now who was nauseous...

She buried her face in her hands and tried to make sense of it. This was not how conception worked; it didn't work between two women. Kate Austin could very well be with the conman's child. After all, Ben had order for her to determine whether she was or wasn't, at least by the time they would take Sun and do all the tests on her that Juliet had been forced to do on all the women with child. Juliet Burke tried not to have a panic attack, right then and there.

Ben had a way to know things, about everything... about everyone. He would know that she was having a baby, too, and he would want for her to go back to him, and then any chance for her to get off of the islands, however small, would be gone the very second Ben had her back. Maybe it hadn't been a good plan to go to the medical post.

A part of her wanted to run to Jack with this as well, but... She didn't know if she could tell him this, because then she would have to tell him that she and Kate had had... well, whatever they had had.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Experience helped Juliet Burke over the next few days to learn which smells and thus foods she was too sensitive to, which things she should avoid. She knew that Jack had noticed. He had asked what was going on a few days after Juliet discovered she was having a baby, but she had told him that she just couldn't tell him yet, and the man hadn't asked again. She knew that he was upset, though, that she wouldn't tell him the truth, if only by the look in his eyes as she told him that this one, she couldn't share with him. Part of her knew, at least suspected, that he had put the pieces together anyway.

She felt like she was getting used to the changes her body was going through, but she, too, felt like the secret was harder to carry on her own. She knew that this was, in part, Jack's fault, for how he looked at her and for the things he radiated, among which concern and worth of confidence. A smaller part that made it so was her knowledge that she needed to talk to Kate first... and that that would be a really hard conversation.

First of all, it meant that she had to touch upon this subject that they had, without words, agreed upon to never ever mention. It meant that she had to tell her she thought Kate had, somehow, impregnated her, and then she would have to tell her she thought she had, in turn, impregnated Kate as well. The longer she let her mind mull over those crazy suspicions, the less sane it sounded. The longer she waited, the less likely she was to mention to Kate what she thought, yet at the same time, she felt she came closer to just _telling_ her at a horribly-chosen moment. Then again, was there a well-chosen moment for it?

Juliet's chance to have the very difficult conversation presented itself a few days after she discovered she was with child, very unexpectedly. The blonde was in the jungle alone, or so she thought, gathering mangoes ── one of the only things she had gained a fondness of ── when she heard tiny branches crack and saw Kate appear, a few feet from where she herself stood with one arm full of mangoes. It was not uncommon for the people to run into one another on such a small island. When the brunette saw Juliet turn to her, a freshly-plucked fruit in her hand to contribute to the small pile that was gathered in her non-free arm, she had a caught expression in her hazel-green colored eyes, like a deer that was caught in the headlights. Without a single word or changed expression, Kate Austen made to go back to the beach, as if to get away from Juliet as soon as she could.

As she saw Kate pull long strides away from her, Juliet scanned their surroundings, to ensure that they were alone there, and spoke, "I know you've been nauseous, and I know why." The brunette had had a pale complexion for days now, and it only seemed to pale even more when she said this. She knew that she shouldn't wait too long to break the unexpected news, and she knew that she had to take full advantage now of them being alone, because she might not get the chance anytime soon anymore.

As expected, Kate stopped in her tracks and turned on her heel when she heard the words. "What?" she said.

She knew well enough that she would have to know her to make her believe. With this in her mind, Juliet stated, "Come, and I will show you."

"I'm so not going anywhere with you if you can't tell me what you mean first," Kate responded, catty. The brunette's previous expression had become a hard and defiant one by now.

Juliet turned to her fully then and kept her eyes locked on the dark-haired female as she bent down and placed all of her mangoes in a little pile at her feet. It would be so much easier if Kate didn't hate her. Momentarily, Juliet Burke considered telling her everything that she thought and suspected, right then and there, but she knew that it would all sound so damn crazy that Kate wouldn't go with her at all anymore after, to have her suspicions confirmed. She swallowed. She breathed in very deeply, then exhaled. "Maybe you are afraid of James being right," Juliet spoke. She had learned that to get Kate to do what she wanted, provocation was a good option. "I heard the two of you talk in the jungle a few days ago. It is not that he speaks quietly," Juliet clarified, and she smiled, inwardly, when she saw the expression on Kate's face change from dumbfounded to hard-set. She was taking the bait; Juliet saw it in the way her eyes became fiery, and the way Kate's mouth turned in a thin line of harshness.

"Fine," Kate agreed and raised a hand to indicate Juliet should move, so that she could follow. When the blonde finally moved and made for an invisible path that lead them both further in the jungle, tighter with trees and harsh bushes, Kate Austen on her heel, the fugitive's heart raced. She was rather certain she was not with child. That small part of her that held doubt and fear made her heart and mind race, though, and made the woman panic. What would she do with a baby on an island that the world didn't know existed? What would she do with a child, period?

When she was very young, Kate Austen might have thought of children of her own, when she wanted to be a princess and marry a prince. Maybe a part of her had still hoped for that with Tim, but after that chapter closed as well, she had dived right into the life and times of a criminal, where there was no room for happily ever afters like in Disney fairytales. She had not thought of truly settling down, because, for a long time, Kate's life hadn't felt 'normal' enough to do so, and the time hadn't been right to have a happy little family. The bitter part was that if she had met Kevin in an alternate universe maybe, or just at another time in life, they could have been all that.

As she followed the path that she had followed a few days prior only to confirm or deny her suspicions, Juliet Burke pushed branches and leaves aside to get them to the medical post. If this was true, then all that she had come to know about how fertility worked, off and on the islands, was maybe untrue, and then maybe nothing at all that she had learned off of the islands, in the actual world, did apply to people on there. She didn't know if this interested and exhilarated her or frightened her. What else wouldn't apply? What was the matter with the islands?

It would just be too much of a coincidence for both of them to be sick and nauseous and crazy sensitive to certain smells in the exact same time frame for her suspicions not to be true, as mad as they sounded. Part of her only saw the sonogram as formal confirmation of what she already knew to be true, as strange as it was. Juliet Burke knew that it was futile to try and find a logical explanation. She knew that she wouldn't find logic, when it concerned the islands, with their 'powers' and oddities and abnormalities, no matter how much she felt she needed 'logic'. The less sane it was, the more likely everything was there, Juliet Burke had learned, and she had learned not to question it anymore either.

The blonde and the brunette walked several minutes in utter silence, each to their own, until the leaf deck subtly cleared and Juliet halted and looked back to Kate, who stopped as well and arched her brow as if to ask why the hell she was waiting. Quietly, Juliet revealed the entrance to the medical post and motioned for Kate to go down first, which she did. When Kate had disappeared, she mumbled under a sigh, "What the hell is all this, Ben?"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"This can't be true!" Kate shouted, her face red as she glared down at Juliet angrily. When the blonde had stated that Kate was, indeed, with child, and that a nearly seven-week-old embryo grew inside her, she had squinted at the screen for several long seconds, maybe in shock, before her rage had taken over and she had pushed Juliet aside with sonogram and all as she sat up. The fertility doctor had toppled over from the unexpected force, but Kate couldn't care less right then. She had seen that small gray blotch that Juliet had indicated on the screen herself as well, but she pushed it all to the very back of her mind for now, as she towered over Juliet and demanded a lie from her, her top stuck to her belly strangely due to the gel she hadn't cared or thought to wipe off of her skin.

"Well, it is," Juliet stated, somewhat annoyed. She winced as she placed a hand beside her and moved to push herself up after getting knocked down by a furious Kate Austen. The blonde suspected that it was not her disbelief that was cause for her anger but the fact that she had no idea what to do with the truth, with the fact that she was having a child. She sighed. She knew that the things she had to tell her next would only make Kate's reaction intensify.

She knew that the criminal was nearly about to barge from the medical post to return to the beach, unable to stay in the room with Juliet and the machine that had just allowed her to see her child; she had put distance between herself and the blonde already, ready to run off when it got too much for her. It really began to get to that point. Juliet Burke knew she had to act very fast.

She hadn't had all too many opportunities to be alone with Kate before and knew that any chance she had to get her separately, like earlier, would be even slimmer now after what she had told her. "I know how shocked you feel. I only discovered I am having a baby a few days ago as well," Juliet said. She figured that that was the best way to lead up to the difficult part ── if there had actually been an easy part to their conversation, she mused.

Kate's mouth opened a few times, as if she was a fish above water, but no words escaped her. She ran a hand through her hair, frustrated with Juliet for putting her in this position and for being so fucking calm as always when she felt like she was losing all sanity, and frustrated with herself for not being able to react as she felt her anger boil, nearly literally, underneath her skin.

Juliet's pained hisses were ignored as she got up. Kate didn't care at all ── she didn't try to help her, nor did she consider that. She did not know what to say, what to whisper or what to shout. She made to turn when a soft and calm voice stopped her in her tracks ── a calm voice that she hated for being so calm all the damn time.

"I am exactly as far along in my pregnancy as you. That's why I noticed that you get the morning sickness, as well," Juliet stated as she placed a hand on the small of her back and rubbed gently where she had hurt herself when she fell, pushed by Kate, fueled by Kate's anger. "I'll hazard a guess and say that we conceived the day we both escaped from the barracks," she continued. She tried her best to offer her suspicions, the truth, to her gently. A huff that came from her as a laugh escaped the brunette's lips as she rolled her eyes. She crossed her arms, pinned Juliet Burke with her gaze. She felt her anger rise up. She knew that if she spoke right now, it would be a bark or a shout. "You say that as if we knocked each other up," she said. She needed the harsh words. Euphemisms just wouldn't do, nor proper words.

This time, it was Juliet who couldn't find her words. She took in a large gulp of air to gather herself, blinked several times rapidly. She clasped her small hands together, unclasped them, clasped them together once more, then let them fall by her side when she realized it didn't make the nervousness she felt less intense. "Well..." she began, "We're all aware that these islands have a weird way with fertility in general. Otherwise, Jin wouldn't have managed to impregnate Sun here."

"What...?" Kate began, and the brunette's brow furrowed as she seemed to try and accept that what she thought Juliet meant, was indeed that.

"I believe that when we..." Juliet sighed. She knew that right now, bluntness would help her best. "It fits as the time of conception for both of us. There are certain similarities I can't ignore when I compare my own sonogram from a few days ago to what was just on the screen."

"You're fucking crazy," Kate spat.

Juliet Burke leant back against the wall and crossed her arms again, chewed on her lip, then lifted her gaze to meet Kate's, before she pushed away from the wall as her arms fell to her sides, took a few steps closer to where Kate stood and halted when there were merely inches between them. "All right. I know that it sounds crazy and that you can't believe it. I know that in the world we have both come from, before we somehow got to this place, it wouldn't be possible, in any way, from all we know of fertility and medicine, generally spoken, but things do not work the same on these two islands, and every day, I discover more. Every day, no matter how long I've been here, I see more, learn more, about how very peculiar they are. I'm nearly certain that what I concluded is in fact the truth and that all the similarities I've seen between our pregnancies, our embryos, mean we've conceived together, as weird as that is."

Kate clasped a hand over stormy green eyes and began to laugh, hysterically. "So we've ended up in a place so damn special that women can conceive a child with one another?" She let her hand drop from her face, pinned the blonde with an angry gaze that threw Juliet a bit off-guard. "I will believe it right the fuck away! Maybe you and one of the little friends you've got fucked shortly before we left the barracks ── that is if you're really having a baby to begin with."

"I'm not you!" Juliet shrieked as she lost her patience at last, and her anger began to finally roll off of her in a stream of words she couldn't even stop if she wanted to. "I do not fuck people to forget about the feelings I've got for another but am too weak to admit I have. I do not use men for a few minutes before I push them off and dump them until the next time I can use a distraction."

Kate's nostrils flared, as she heard Juliet's accusations. All she could do was slap Juliet Burke in the face, to make her shut up, and glare at her with the disgust she felt for the woman written across her face. They stood before each other, no words spoken, for several seconds before Kate turned and stormed off.

The blonde covered her sore cheek with a hand as Kate disappeared from the post. She felt her cheek pulse underneath her fingers, and she knew that she would carry an angry red mark in the morning, if she didn't put anything cold on it. Maybe she could find a few aloe leaves in the jungle, too, to soothe her sore skin. As the last of the brunette disappeared and she heard the door slam, Juliet's shoulders sagged once more. That hadn't gone well. She released a breath as she considered her own actions. She, herself, had used Goodwin, too, in many ways. She wasn't perfect either. Maybe she was just as bad as Kate Austen, and that was not a nice thought.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Juliet Burke was sat on the beach, as she had for hours. When she first sat down at the seaside, the cerulean ocean water had been far away and calm. By now, though, the clear waves had edged a lot closer to where she sat, and they had picked up in pace and in strength, visibly. The cold water lapped gently at her toes in a way that reminded her of one of her small childhood dogs ── Ted, if she wasn't mistaken ── who had always really liked to lick at her toes when they were bare, for one reason or another. Little Juliet had hated shoes. She preferred her feet bare still. Whereas most women she knew hated the stickiness and the dirt, she enjoyed the feel of the sand between her very thin and feminine toes. She didn't care to move further back from the water either.

She tried to briefly ignore the fact that she was on an island right in the middle of nowhere, unwillingly, with no way of getting off of it, and enjoy the sounds of the sea she knew many people paid a lot to hear on their holidays. These sounds, however, sickened Juliet on occasion, for she had the sounds of the seaside too often for the past few years. Sometimes, she wanted to get off of the islands so much that she never really wanted to hear the sea again. The fact that she was having a baby made it harder to accept that there was literally an ocean between herself and the 'modern world', with Rachel and Julian in it, and hospitals...

Sometimes, Juliet Burke had wanted to jump in the water to swim as far as she could, in hopes to try and get back to her life or die in her unsuccessful attempts to do so. Ben had seemed to always know those moments, though. Each time she had felt that way, Ben had 'incidentally' mentioned that she could go back to her sister and her new nephew, as soon as she finished the job Ben wanted her to do. She now knew he had never truly planned to let Juliet go, and that she had been stupid and gullible to always hope that he meant the words he said, and that if he cared for her the way he claimed he did, that Ben would see just how miserable she was... but Ben had either never seen the blonde's misery or never really cared.

Juliet Burke blinked when she could swear she saw land in the far distance and turned away from the water ── the land she wanted to go back to now so desperately she began to see it while it wasn't there, for it never was. When her gaze fell upon the beach, she saw Jin close by as he gutted the fish he had caught earlier that day, with Sun. Hurley played a game of badminton with Bernard a little further, while Rose did the laundry.

When she diverted her gaze and saw a curly brunette by her tent, before her, she sighed. Kate Austen had done her very best to avoid her since she had run from the medical post after Juliet informed her of her pregnancy and the way it might have really happened. She felt that Jack, too, had avoided her of late and that, when he did talk to her, it wasn't the same. She let her gaze wander to the right and noticed the good doctor lean against the bark of a palm tree near their tents, with a book in his hands that was thick and water-stained and crinkled and one that Juliet assumed wasn't actually his.

Sometimes, like that day, it felt like they were all on a survival holiday together. There were parts of her life she didn't miss, but Juliet Burke missed being able to decide for herself where she would and could go. She just missed being free, but then... had she ever been? When she was younger, the blonde had had to listen to her parents, then her spouse, and then, when she had thought she was free at last to make her own decisions, Ben had come into play and had been worse than all of them together.

The funny part was that she had jumped in this adventure willingly. How the hell could she have ever been so naive? Of course, Juliet Burke had had her doubts at first, and Rachel had had them as well, but she hadn't listened. It hadn't fit with the expectations she had wanted, and those had been of most importance to her. She had so needed a life where she felt she did things that were worthwhile. Juliet Burke had wanted to be someone, to make a change in the world, however small, and now, she didn't know anymore. Whereas she knew she would always feel the need to help people, save people, she felt like the world could go screw itself most of the time now. She wanted to go home. If she had a say, she was not going to raise her son or daughter on this island ── that's if she did reach the end of her pregnancy, unlike the other women who had conceived and died on the islands.

The woman fell back into the sand and pulled one of her arms over her blue eyes to block the bright rays of sunshine from overhead, as the blonde looked up in the sky and remembered all of the hopes and the dream for life she had once had. If she hadn't jumped in on this, she could have maybe met a nice man who treated her right. She could have married, could have had children with him. She had wanted a child as much as her sister before she discovered she was with child. She had held onto her own lies for so long ── that her time would come, and that she had enough time ── but the longing for a child of her own had still infiltrated Juliet's heart. Sometimes, she felt such a huge missing in her soul, a love that she wanted to give to a life that she had created, and in those moments, she felt like she had wasted part of her life on the islands, in her attempts to be more ── to be someone she wasn't. She had wasted part of her life on the islands. She couldn't deny that.

Juliet Burke got pulled from her thoughts when she heard an accented voice scream Jack's name at the top of his lungs. She pulled her arm back from her face and immediately sat up as she squinted at the man in the distance that was running at top speed to where she was, and Jack as well. The man's large feet sunk away in the sand with every other step as he waved a handheld device. She kept her eyes on the darker-skinned, curly-haired man as she saw Jack put his book down in the sand and slowly get up, clearly confused as he walked from the shadow of the palm tree in the open, to meet Sayid Jarrah.

"Jack! I have managed to get a signal, back there!" he spoke in a rather breathless tone, but a smile was on his face. "I guess I wasn't in range of the jamming signal anymore and somehow managed to heart part of the New Zealand news. Of course, it was with the occasional disconnection, occasional creak, but I did hear it, and that, I believe, means that we should be able to make contact of sorts with them."

Jack blinked. "New Zealand? How?" he asked, and Juliet felt her heart fill with this tangible kind of hope that overtook her, and she knew that the others felt it as well as they drew nearer at the mention of 'the land', of 'contact'. Could it be? Could Ben have failed?

"I can receive a lot easier than I can send, of course. However..." Sayid began.

"It is possible," a wise and calm voice sounded, "You can tell from the stance of the sun and direction of the wind that both of these islands float back and forth. You just never truly get close enough, to get to land," John Locke stated.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Why didn't you tell me?" Jack Shephard asked as he closed the old bottle of rain water, then set it aside, against the bark of the very big palm tree both of them were seated against, and she saw the very visible hurt in the man's eyes as he asked her the reason why she hadn't told him what she had known he knew.

Juliet's mouth opened, but she couldn't find the words. Of course, she had been very well aware that he would put all of the pieces together. "I..." she began. Why hadn't she told him?

When she didn't answer, he averted his gaze and latched on to Sayid Jarrah's figure, feet away, as the man held the radio up, high in the sky, to try and get in touch with the main land as he had a day prior. "It was right here..." Sayid murmured as he walked back and forth along the side of the beach that was about as far as possible from the tents the people had set up and had claimed as their temporary 'homes' weeks ago. He couldn't look at Juliet anymore. He felt betrayed, but not only by her in any case. He let his eyes slowly travel to Hurley, to Sawyer, to Kate... always Kate... as they stood by and waited as Sayid tried to get the connection with the main land back that he had had the day before, to tell the world they had survived.

He felt betrayed by her as well, but not as much as he felt by the blonde that sat right beside him. He had thought that they had had a connection, a harmony that enabled Juliet and him to share things with one another. "It is not a mystery how Kate got impregnated," he said, with a nod to the brunette. "I would say that, given the way both of you have acted lately, you're about as far along as she is."

"I didn't know how to tell you," Juliet whispered.

"You didn't..." Jack began to repeat, in disbelief, as the man's gaze fell on her once more. The change in his voice that she heard when he turned his head made Juliet look up again at him as well and lock eyes with him. She realized she had never seen Jack Shephard look that tired. The look they shared was nearly... electric. It made both of them feel the intense need to pull their gazes away and direct them at _anything_ but one another, but, at the same time, it caused both of them to feel like, even if they really wanted to, they couldn't and wouldn't be able to do so anytime soon either. "You should know by now that I wouldn't judge you, regardless of what it was," Jack spoke.

"I know I should have told you of my pregnancy, as soon as I confirmed it," Juliet agreed. She shook her head; she wished she could turn back the time when she saw the hurt and betrayal in his eyes filter through despite him doing his best to show Juliet forgiveness, if that was the right word. Juliet Burke truly wished that she had had the guts to tell him before he had had to put the pieces together himself. Any look that he could have given her would have been better than the one that was directed at her right then.

"Do you know how much danger this pregnancy could put you in?" Jack spoke in a low tone he knew only she would be able to hear as he turned his back on the others on top of it. His eyes remained trained on her steadily, as if that would emphasize, to her, the importance of what he was saying, and in a way, it did. "You've told me of Ben's near-obsession with you and of how possessive he is when you're involved. He, too, has an unhealthy desire to clear up why women with child die if they conceive when they're on the islands and find a way to solve it. After all, that's why you were here. He'll do whatever it takes, sacrifice whatever it takes, to get to his little answer, and we both know he's dangerous and doesn't really care about the cost," he said, "That son-of-a-bitch has a way to gather knowledge, on all of the things he shouldn't. He's got eyes everywhere, it seems, so I've got no doubt he'll know about the pregnancy already, too ── and if he doesn't, he will very soon," he finished.

Juliet's lips tightened. She nodded slowly to confirm to Jack that she knew that this was the truth. "We'll just hope Sayid can get a signal and can make contact with the main land, so that we can all get off the island very soon, so that Ben doesn't have to have anyone abducted or mauled," the blonde spoke in a dry and emotionless tone, as if she wasn't afraid at all.

"You appear to believe Ben would leave you alone." He briefly glanced over his shoulder, at Sayid and the others ── their attention was not at all on him or Juliet then.

Juliet Burke shook her head at that, nearly immediately. "No, I don't," she said. "I longed often to be able to get off of the islands, to go back home, to move on... but I am certain that Ben wouldn't let me have that. I wouldn't really be able to go back to my family, to my sister and my new nephew, if I hope to protect them from him, or from whoever is under his spell," she whispered. "It will be just me and the little one, I guess, whatever does happen. With Ben, you never do know for sure if he's given up or not."

In that moment, he wished he could tell her that she wasn't absolutely right... but any such words, would have been lies. Jack Shephard couldn't help but to mull over some of the words Juliet had spoken, though ── particularly '_me and the little one_'. What had happened to the child's father then, as she had, obviously, conceived there? He averted his gaze down in the sand and looked at the tiny, black beetle that crawled upon the shredded leaf that lay at his bare feet ── he couldn't look at Juliet, nor the others.

The blonde saw this. She sighed. "When we ran from the barracks, Kate and I..." she began. She couldn't say it. "She is the only person I've, well, 'been with'. That is, so to speak, in the time frame in which it appears this child could have been created. That might not be the case for Kate, as we both know she's been with Sawyer, but she's exactly as far along as I am. That has made me wonder," she told him as she did her best to push the awkwardness she felt in telling him aside, tried not to notice how Jack's eyes grew as he put the pieces together, as always. She could tell that he thought that she was crazy, and in that moment, to her own ears, she had sounded a bit crazy as well, so she couldn't blame him for it.

"So the two of you...?" Jack voiced.

Juliet responded, "In a way..."

"In a way?" Jack repeated, incredulously, and he ran a hand over his face. "I can't believe this," he said. So the two women he really liked had had a... Kate and Juliet had...

"Well, listen, Jack, you don't have to believe me," Juliet Burke started, in a calm voice that didn't speak of how his disbelief felt like a harsh stab in the heart.

She felt herself trail off as she saw a change in Sayid and the others, a small distance away. Jack Shephard noticed it, too. He blinked back at her and nodded briefly before both of them got up from their spot by the palm tree and took the few steps necessary to reach their friends.

"My name is Sayid Jarrah. I was on the Oceanic 815 flight," Sayid's voice sounded. "I'm part of a small group of people who have survived and have managed to stay alive, on the little isle on which we crashed."

Silence. Then, "_You're not all dead_?"

"No. We're not."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

MONTHS LATER

Juliet Burke's hazy gaze latched onto small bits and pieces of the hospital corridor when they raced her to the ER. Most of the way, the EMTs had sped, through Los Angeles' busy streets, sirens loud, blue lights bright, to get her to the local hospital, as soon as possible. The blonde's blue eyes fluttered, and her white St. Sebastian Hospital surroundings drifted back and forth in Juliet's focus as they did. She held onto her lower belly, for dear life. "My baby, my baby..." she muttered, rather weakly, and she wished she could shout as she heard her own soft voice. The baby was of the most importance. She didn't notice the man that she had not seen in close to five months.

A teenager had come by on his longboard and had slid through the group of people who had waited to cross the main street and had hit an older man's ankles, which had caused a chain reaction that had ended up with Juliet, who had waited to cross the street, too, getting smacked down on the hard concrete, face first. Immediately, pain had taken a hold of her big belly.

Jack Shephard had just left the break room, to go check on the patients he had done surgery on most of the morning, when he caught the blonde's familiar face ── the woman that he had last kissed, on an isle by New Zealand he desperately tried to forget. This was very hard to do, with the knowledge Rose, Bernard, Locke and Sawyer had all decided to stay, for they felt that it had more to offer, at least for them, than the open world everyone else had opted to go back to.

After Sayid had made contact and after repeated reassurance that he was who he said he was, and after Sayid had told them to approach the islands from the east side, where he had, somehow, managed to escape Ben's jamming signal as well, a search party had left New Zealand to come to their rescue. Two days later, without rescue, they hadn't hoped anymore. The radio had died and at last given up entirely, so they had lost all forms of communication. The search party had taken all of four days to reach them. When they arrived, it had felt... surreal. A boat had brought them all back to land, to New Zealand, where they were taken care of by several instances ── not only physically, also psychologically. Jack Shephard had felt that he had had enough, of the way the media stalked all of them, to have questions answered, to ask for 'exclusive interviews', after several days, and the man had decided to return to Los Angeles. A few of his 'friends', his fellows, had chosen to do the same and had taken a plane to the USA with him, while others, like Sun and Jin, had decided that they would stay put in New Zealand a bit longer. When in the USA, of course, the attention hadn't really died down at all, but had only increased, if possible, at least for a few weeks. Still, a stray reporter came up to him to ask for 'exclusive interviews' sometimes. He denied every single time. He had only told his story once to the New Zealand police, the day after the search party had brought them all to land, and the man wasn't up to telling anyone else anymore. He hadn't spoken of Ben, or of the islands' powers.

Two months ago, Jack Shephard had felt that it had all calmed down enough for him to return to his job as a spinal surgeon, at St. Sebastian Hospital. He wouldn't have dreamed of seeing Juliet Burke again there. The very last time that he had seen Juliet or Kate or any of the others was the day that he got back to L.A. He couldn't help but to wonder to himself whether she had lived in this neighborhood this whole time, or if she had been there for other reasons.

He forced himself to rip his gaze away and go to his own patients and let his colleagues do their jobs. It took him a lot of effort, though, and his thoughts were on Juliet Burke most of the time he was on his rounds.

When he reached her room and when he discovered that it was empty, Jack Shephard was confused. A monitor was next to the bed, which was not made ── it was one of those typically used by obstetricians to check an unborn child's heart rate. She had been here. He checked the small bathroom, but Juliet Burke wasn't in this room any longer. He knew that she couldn't have been released. Jack Shephard decided to just go back to the nurse's station, to ask if they knew where she could be since she wasn't in her room. The doctor had nearly made his way to the end of the hallway when he saw the face of the man he least wanted to see in the reflection of the tall mirror that hung against the back wall of the elevator. He felt his heart clench when he noted the blonde woman whose empty room he just came from. The cold, gray elevator doors closed before his nose. _Fuck._

People stared after him as he ran for the nearby staircase to try and get to the street level, before Ben and Juliet did and the son-of-a-bitch had a chance to disappear. Jack Shephard chastised himself for never just... Maybe all this wouldn't have happened if he had just tried to get back in touch with her, if he had been there. _Why now?_ Jack wondered. _Maybe it has all been a ploy and he is why she got hurt to begin with, to take all advantage of her weakness?_ At this thought, he felt the anger inside him intensify.

When he reached the street level, he heard the 'ding' of the elevator, just as he ran for the lobby, and as a small mass of people, visitors and released patients alike, spilled into the hall, he realized he had managed to make it before Ben could have, unless... None of these people were Ben or Juliet, he noted. They wouldn't have left the elevator earlier, he guessed. Benjamin Linus would have taken Juliet to the staff's parking lot two floors down... to escape from there. People jumped back when Jack spun on his heel and stormed off to get to the staircase, as fast as he could. He nearly tripped over his feet as he took two or even three steps at once and made for the staff parking lot.

Of course, with Juliet's precarious condition, they didn't move as fast as Ben maybe would have liked, and that way it was easy for Jack to catch up, despite the fact that they had taken an elevator down and he had had to take two staircases. He confronted them at the exit gate. "Leave her, Ben," Jack spat as he tried to re-gain his breath.

At this, the man he really hated turned. As he did so, he kept Juliet clutched tightly to him and ignored the tears that ran down her face and the way Juliet's body shook from her sobs. Jack could tell she was terrified. He knew that she must still be in pain, as well. Ben's face became stoic as he reached back and opened the gate with his free arm. He taunted the doctor with his gaze alone and was successful. "That, I never will," he stated.

He knew that if he didn't act now, Benjamin Linus would win. Neither Juliet nor her child would know what safety meant, and Jack Shephard couldn't and wouldn't just let that happen any longer anymore.

It happened in a flash, and he would never know how exactly he managed to save Juliet from getting hurt when he threw himself at the man he very much hated and slammed him back. He didn't mean to kill him, but as Jack threw himself on top of the man with his whole weight and both men fell back, a dark Mercedes wanted to take advantage of the gate being opened. When Ben's head slammed hard against the Mercedes' bumper, Jack Shephard knew that he wouldn't survive. He, himself, got away just in time.

The surgeon didn't really register it when his colleague got from his car to check Ben's pulse, only to confirm that he must have died nearly immediately. He ignored the other doctor's hysterical cries but redirected his bewildered gaze at the blonde whose life he had just saved instead. "What the hell, Jack?!" he exclaimed. "Do you two know each other? Isn't that the chick who got off the islands when you did but wasn't on the plane?"

Great sobs left the woman's throat, in a mixture of what was maybe pain and fear and the general weight of the situation, but he could tell that there was a kind of relief there, too, as her blue eyes remained trained on Ben's still body, with his eyes wide-open and glossy, and blood that seeped from his big head wound, his nose and his mouth.

Their gazes connected, and Juliet fell in his open arms. She held on as tightly as she could, and he just let her be. "Shh," he soothed. "I'm here."

In that moment, both Jack and Juliet were reminded of the closeness and honesty they had shared when they were on the islands together, half a year ago maybe, and it felt so good to 'be back'. They did not say 'I love you' or 'I've missed you' then. They didn't ask where to go from there on; they didn't really have to. They had never had to do so.


	9. Epilogue

Epilogue

Juliet Burke clamps onto his hand hard, as she looks up in his eyes, and he encourages her to do so, at least until the contraction's over again. As he watches her face relax, he can tell the pain has abated a tad. He strokes her wet hair from her forehead for what must be the sixth time in the past few minutes. "You're doing great, Juliet," he tells her in a whisper.

When he got his job at St. Sebastian Hospital back, Jack Shephard never would have thought that that was where he would see Juliet again. He never would have thought to see Juliet again to begin with least of all that when it came to it, she would be the one he could kill another person for, whoever and however unintended.

The fact that he was, indeed, responsible for another person's death didn't sit well with him for a few days, but the fact that that person was Benjamin Linus helped him to place it in his guilty mind ── as well as his knowledge that the son-of-a-bitch would have, quite certainly, hurt Juliet and the baby, and his memory of all the things Ben had done.

Jack asked Juliet to move in with him after her release, and she never left. She terminated her contract the next month and moved all of her stuff to his place and managed to get back in touch with Rachel and her nephew, whom she sees several times each week and talks to every day.

Tears escape the blonde's eyes when she locks gazes with Jack, and she counts her lucky stars as she sees the immense love he somehow has for her in his ever-supportive, ever-attentive depths. She feels very sick all of a sudden, from pain. To him, she's not a 'To Fix' project. To her, he's not the boss of her. She has her independence. He doesn't own her. At the end of the day, truly, it feels right that she's all that he has, and he, all that she has. Part of her knew since they first met.

"I'm so, so grateful you're here, with me..."

"There's nowhere I'd rather be," he says. He presses a kiss to Juliet's sweaty forehead, then touches his lips to hers very gently.

A small smile pulls at the soft corners of Juliet's mouth. It contorts when the next contraction hits hard. "Fuck, this hurts!" she manages. When she finally did admit to Jack that she was likely in labor and that her water might have broken, Juliet Burke had already had 'cramps' for over two hours. She hadn't really wanted to go to the hospital any earlier than absolutely necessary. As a result, it was long past that 'absolutely necessary' when she felt that she couldn't hide it from Jack anymore.

A few days after Juliet moved in with him, he said he would be very happy to raise Juliet's baby with her. That was the day he first told her that he loves her, as well. She nodded her accord. Since then, he's acted like it is his own child. He remembers the moment when he feels the eagerness to just hold the child in his arms tightly and share that beautiful event with Juliet, the woman he loves.

He lays his hand on top of hers on her belly and gently taps her fingers, as she feels the pain lessen again. "I reckon you're not up for more," he teases, but there's truth in it. As much as he will love this child, he longs to have a child of his own with her as well. He longs to build a family with this woman, and he can't wait.

"Maybe we'll talk about that... when this one's born..." she says between heavy breaths.

He strokes her belly. He'll definitely miss it; he finds her sexy when she's full of new life. "I will hear it when you're ready," he tells her in a soft tone, and she can tell he is serious. She likes the idea. "Meanwhile, we'll just practice some more. However, it will take at least six weeks for you to recuperate first."

She pouts at him, and Jack Shephard can't help but laugh.

She lets her gaze travel down, eyes him. She bites down on her bottom lip, and she meets the doctor's eyes. She's addicted to how he makes her feel when they're in bed together. He puts her first, and that makes all of the difference. "Oh, we won't," she says. "We'll just have to be very, very gentle. I'm sure that that won't cause issues. We've had to be inventive the last few weeks, too. I'm sure we'll find a way."

Jack smiles. At times, it overwhelms him still how very much he loves her. "Marry me," he says, and he sees her mouth begin to open to ask him what the hell he just asked and if he's serious when he sees her brow furrow and a gasp escapes her lips. He can tell this is it. She has to push now. It is time for this baby to be born. Juliet Burke spends the next thirty-three minutes and fifty-one seconds pushing as hard as she can.

It is when the new mother cradles her in her arms very, very carefully, when they enjoy the first moments with their ── very loud ── daughter, that Juliet remembers she never answered. She looks up at him. "I'll marry you," she whispers.

At first, he's confused. Then he remembers, too, and he smiles wide, and he's as happy as he can be.


End file.
